Tag Archives: dreams

Interpreting your experience is the way to circumvent feeling tossed around by life taking whatever comes along and just dealing with it. In creating successful life strategies one must be aware of one’s dreams and the role they play in the experience of everyday life. By integrating the dream with the business of life personal power is restored while the realization of dreams and goals flows into the practical experience of living increasing happiness and joy.

The premise for living big is to believe in our dreams and trust that we have the power as creators to bring those dreams down to earth and accomplish great things. We have a nature that lends it’s self to discovery through curiosity to know our purpose in life. As we act upon our dreams we discover clues to the answers of this question. The experiences we gain through our discovery shape the way we function in our lives. The nature of discovery is to uncover the unknown and causes us to experience fear or excitement, the basis for all ancillary feelings, which triggers thought and action. Our society is filled with so much information from so many sources that unless we are actively thinking about the true risk of any given situation our mind filters that information through our fight or flight mind where our actions are based upon survival. Living big is living beyond survival through thoughtful action to reach goals successfully.

Understanding the communication between ourselves and our world i the shortest distance to knowing how to modify our reality to align to our dreams, wishes, wants and desires. The four modes of functioning model is a powerful tool for interpreting and analyzing the feedback received throughout our experience. Conscious use of the model increases understanding, personal power, and successful results. The four modes of functioning are sensing, feeling, thinking and acting. Each mode of function operates in a constructive or destructive way.

To create SMASHing Life Strategies for 2012, use the Four Modes of Functioning model to interpret your experience. Set a timer for three minutes, respond quickly, let answers sit for a few days and repeat, notice what changed, add images to your writing. Remember this is about the process not the product. Using the conscious and subconscious parts of your mind allows you to gain insight and enhance your experience. Allow each mind to express its self on the page without expectation to maximize your experience.

Observe through Sensing. Take a look at the nine areas of balance and for each one, ask;

What am I experiencing?

What do I Sense? See? Feel? Think/Hear? Taste? Smell?

Have I experienced this or something similar to this before?

Thinking Mode. Interpret the data.

What do I believe about this experience?

What do I judge about this experience?

What do I believe about myself?

What do I judge about myself?

What do I hold back from doing because I believe this?

Is what I believe true for all humankind?

What would happen if I did not believe this about myself?

What would be different if I didn’t believed this to be true?

Feeling Mode. Analyzing Cause of Action.

How does it feel to believe this?

What is the strongest emotion that I connect to this experience?

What would I feel if this thought never existed? Have I ever felt that way in the past? If not, what do I imagine that feeling to feel like?

Who would I be without_____?

What does my response to this even tell me about my true nature, or purpose?

Acting Mode. Applying What You Have Learned.

What have I learned?

How will I apply what I have learned?

What am I currently doing in this area?

What is working and not working?

What would be ideal? Have I experienced these results in the past? If not, what do I imagine ideal would be like?

What would I get out of living this ideal? What would it do for me?

What would it take to get a step closer to this ideal from where I am now?

December is a month of long night and shortened daylight hours. The Winter Solstice is an ideal time to slow down and reflect on the year before moving into the holidays filled with celebrations of gratitude and abundance. Reflection allows us to make peace with the past, gain clarity for the moment and build confidence in the future. Taking a cue from Mother Nature, the extended hours of darkness, expand your dreams beyond limitation. Where dreams expand so does the heart, the mind and the soul making space for the new things we desire as the New Year approaches.

Mediation begins with listening to the noise that surrounds us and releasing it as easily as it comes. Begin reflective meditation by noticing all that is going on in the mind, allowing thoughts to come and go. There may be thoughts that linger longer than others asking for more attention. There may be feelings in varying degrees of intensity that ride along with the thoughts. Notice all of that is connected to each thought or strings of thoughts. You may choose to write them down at this time or simply take notice, however, be aware of the serendipitous nature of the process, desire for the whole self to explore, gather and sort the information into useful material.

Using the process of exploration, gathering and sorting create a reflections page in your strategies journal (SMASH book) of those things that you found to be significant is similar to “kicking the tires” of your car before setting out on the road. Becoming familiar with the quirks of a vehicle before you take a long trip, (or a short one), allows you to enjoy the ride by reducing perceived risk making the journey more enjoyable and less stressful. In life, understanding how you process events and sort information will help you to create objectives, strategies and tactics to meet your goals with greater success, less stress, and enjoy the journey.

As the mind becomes increasingly still there is a temptation to fill it with new thoughts. Take a moment to let the system rest and reach beyond your perceived limits to retrieve inspiration. Listen to the breath of the body and the rhythm of the heart as your mind and body settles in and adjusts to the stillness. Consider the quiet to be the gift of peace to the whole soul offering it with gratitude for a job well done. As inspiration reveals it’s self the imagination will expand it into a dream. Follow the dream and expand it in all directions until you reach the boundaries of the dream, and then push it out even more. Experience the dream in as much detail as possible, interacting with the dream with all of the senses. Deepening the experience sends the mind and body to the fringe of reality where it will return with endless possibilities from which to realize the potential of the dream. Record this information in your strategies journal in vivid detail.

Sort the information you have brought back from the dream into categories, such as;

Center/ Spirituality/ Self

Partnerships/Love

Creations/ Children/Homemaking

Travel/ Service/ Declarations

Work/ Career/ Activity

Information/ Knowledge/ Self-Cultivation/ Culture

Health/ Money/ Traditions/ Habits

Wealth/ Abundance/ Distribution/ Growth

Personal Power/ Security/ Longevity/ Integrity.

This is a springboard list to identify objectives, build strategies and implement tactics that will move you to realize the dream.